Jinx Match 4

Well after a break of 4 weeks I'm getting back on the bank side today with a return to Rolfs Lake for the 4th Jinx Match . Ade (Slim Shady) is in possession of the PINK HAT today, as is Paul D who missed his turn on the third match through illness so there's bound to be plenty of banter flying about. Initial thoughts when I looked out of the window this morning were that it looked like a lovely day to be going fishing. As usual a full English  was the order of the day at my favorite café in Battersea en route to the lake, and a smooth run down saw me pulling into the car park just after 10am.

A few were already in attendance as there had been a Friday night Open match that they'd fished and stopped over. As usual the car park soon filled up as groups discussed the prospects for the day ahead. Hopefully the feed that had gone in overnight would find the fish with their heads down and ready to have a serious munch. With the 3 sections having been rotated on the previous 3 matches, there was going to be a fresh draw today to decide the sections for the final 3 matches. Unfortunately Ade wasn't in attendance for his turn on the PINK HAT so Gem decided to wear it herself, but Paul D was and proudly wearing his . Malc had the kids with him once more, so Crystal was dispatched with Liam to collect the 'Guess the Weight' monies, so that she wouldn't feel to bored , and with that out of the way it was time for the draw.

Plunging my hand into the draw bag I found peg 18 was to be my home for the day. I knew that Gem had fished it on the night match so had a quick chat with her to find out how she'd fished it before loading up my gear for the short stroll round there . For company today I had Steve Wilson on peg 17 while Steve(steak) my pairs partner was out of site on peg 19.

It's a peg that I hadn't fished previously. It's a decent looking peg with the large bush separating it from peg 19 on the left and another bush in the right hand margin, but it hadn't produced a 'Ton+' since May 22nd. My plan of attack for today would be 2 margin swims at around 4mtrs that Gem had fished the night before and a line straight out at around 9mtrs.

  I set up 3 rigs, a Malman Adam on 0·20 with a size 16 Guru QM1 that would cover both margin swims. A MW 0·4 Power Diamond again on 0·20 with a size 16 Guru QM1 for on the deck at 9mtrs where I had around 5 ft of depth and finally a MW Cookie on a similar set up for up in the water over the 9mtr line. Peg 18 is one of the pegs that you can't use a rod on in this series, so they stayed in the holdall.
Bait and feed was taken care of by 6 & 8mm fishery pellets and some sweetcorn, along with various soft hookers.

So at 1·30pm Malc called the All-In. I shipped out 2 large pots of mixed pellets and sweetcorn to 9mtrs, fed 2 good handfuls of pellet into the 2 margin swims and went straight out to 9mtrs with an 8mm banded pellet on the hook. The float settled and 5 seconds later buried!!!! and after a spirited fight a chunky Mirror of around 7lbs was safely in the net to get me off the mark .
Next put in and the float was soon away, this time I could feel straight away that the fish was foul hooked and despite my best efforts to get it in, all I was left to show for it was a large scale on the hook . Now foul hookers can be a bit of a nightmare at Rolfs so I decided to catapult my feed in from that point, hopefully spreading the fish out a bit, rather than group them in too tight an area.

At this point a triumphal scream was heard from Gem who was on Peg 9, it signified that she had her first fish safely in the net and meant that the other 25 anglers were staring down the barrel at a Minxing and a chance of wearing THE PINK HAT, especially as Peg 9 has been consistently been producing big weights, and Eddie TG had arrived with his camera and was bound to give her some coaching during the match .

Next put in for me produced a bit of a surprise in the form of a large skimmer, not quite what I was after, but welcome none the less . Steve was also off the mark but was already starting to suffer with foul hookers that would go on to frustrate him throughout the match . Over on the Car Park bank I'd noticed that Nick on Peg 26 had already been up to the weigh station with a couple of fish.......

.... Now Nick started fishing The Jinx Series back in 2005 and while he would only class himself as a pleasure angler, his one ambition is to catch a 'Ton' and we've all been willing him on to achieve it, but so far in 6 years of Jinx matches he's been thwarted, but he was off to a decent start today on a peg with a bit of form, so fingers crossed for him .

Tony was opposite me on Peg 22 and seemed to be having a bit of a struggle, indeed he'd been unfortunate enough to bust a top kit trying to keep a fish out of the bush to his left earlier on, and things wouldn't improve as he would break another later in the match ........

While Dave Moore next to Tony on Peg 23 had also started quietly and was struggling to make anything happen, though he may have been glad of the slow start having fished last nights match as well  .......

After my quick start it had slowed down a bit and after a couple of hours I had 6 carp, but had lost another 5 that had been foul hooked, so I decided to re-feed with 3 big pot fulls and take a stroll with the camera.

Fred, fresh from joining the Rolfs 200+ club with a win on Wednesday's Open was ticking along on Peg 15 and hopeful of a decent last couple of hours down the margin. Simon was tucked away on Peg 14 and owning up to 8 fish, but you could tell that in the back of his mind lay the spectre of a Minxing ......

 Budgie was the lucky occupier of Peg 13 today and reckoned he only had half a dozen skimmers and a solitary carp to show for his efforts, though he appeared to be playing another carp as I walked away.......

 Jon on Peg 11 had the look on his face that told you just how much he was struggling, while Al had gone walkabout from Peg 10 which said it all as he seldom leaves his peg in the course of the match .......

 I arrived at Peg 9 to find The Minx doing battle with what was obviously a decent fish.........

 Of course Eddie was there as well offering a few hints and tips so things weren't looking good, a feeling that was reinforced when Gem put the culprit on the scales, a cracking Common of 16½lbs ......

 Geoff and Dave the Fish were next door on pegs 8 & 7, but things obviously weren't going to plan as Geoff was fishing the feeder!!!! something I haven't seen him do for a long while......

 Dave was also on the feeder, and if anything was having a worse time of it than Geoff which was strange as there had been a load of fish feeding there prior to the match. However they did seem to be cheered up by watching Dave(Webbo) working his way through his supply of feeders over on Peg 34 as a number of carp took a tour of the lilies in his peg ......

 Malc was on Peg 5, sitting behind him were Crystal & Liam, Crystal looked a little bored so Liam decided she needed his help to smile for the camera .......

 Clive on Peg 4 was just retrieving a rig from a tree when I arrived. He'd had a decent start then lost the fish so had decided to take a look down the margin toward the corner ......

 Nick Williams was over on Peg 38 and it seemed that the peg was producing a few for him today ......

 Dai on Peg 36 however had that fixed expression that only comes from having a grueller, while watching almost everyone else putting fish in their nets ......

 So back to my peg and with a few bubbles coming up at 9mtrs my first put in resulted in................ another foul hooker .
I decided at this point to fish the 6mm hard pellets that I was feeding and that seemed to make the difference. 3 carp and another couple of decent skimmers followed in short order. The one thing puzzling me however is the lack of weigher's I've had fishing at Rolfs this year, in the three previous matches I've only had two weigher's that weighed 10lbs and 13lbs. You really need a few bonus fish to do the decent weights, but I just haven't been able to find them. Still fortunately for me the fish kept coming regularly a mix of Mirrors and Commons that were all around the 7-8lb mark, though I did manage to find one bonus, a Common of 11½lbs before Malc called the All-Out at 6·30pm. Looking down at my clicker I'd estimated that I had around 125lbs, but with rumours of Gem having 100lbs of weigher's on the board the Weigh-In was going to be a nervous affair for many of us .

So with the gear back in the car, the general consensus was that an awful lot were on for a Minxing as we made our way to peg 34 to start the Weigh-In. Webbo kicked of things with a level 81lbs. Nick soon set the pace with 123lbs , but Malc put 176¼lbs on the scales, a mark that wouldn't be beaten, giving him the win on the day . Next was the weight that we'd all been secretly dreading , and you could hear the sighs of resignation when 126¾lbs was called for Gem. Fred on peg 15 ran Malc really close with an excellent 173lbs, giving him 2nd on the day . My carp came up 8ozs short of Gem's weight but my 3 skimmers saved the day giving me a total of 133¾lbs which was good enough for 3rd overall . The largest cheer of the day was reserved for Nick (Monkey) who recorded 109¾lbs to finally get his 'Ton' after 6 years of trying. Nice one Nick .

So while Malc sorted the results Paul Roberts provided the cabaret as he went on to retrieve a keepnet fitting he needed for his next days match. Well it would be rude not to record the event wouldn't it ........

 So with that over and the results announced it just remained for The Minx to decide on the lucky recipient of THE PINK HAT for the next match, and she was spoiled for choice with the line up of The Minxed today, but after a couple of suspected heart attacks among the assembled candidates ......

............. it came to rest on Clive .

 Well that should be that, but someone reminded Nick that he'd once said that if he ever caught his 'Ton' he'd jump in the Lake 'Fisho' style. Well Top Fella, true to his word he went for it and luckily Simon caught it on Video to save it for posterity ......

OVERALL RESULT

Names in PINK are those that were MINXED

SECTION RESULTS

Jinx Match 2

Well, another Saturday and another Jinx Match. I awoke to the sun streaming through the curtains and the forcast was for a warm one, so after a quick shower it was time to feed the cats and make a coffee, and get the car loaded before setting off via Battersea for my usual stop at The Jimmy Griddle where Sausages, Bacon, Eggs and a Fried Slice  washed down with a mug of tea took care of breakfast. An uneventful run down saw me pulling into the car park at Rolf's around 10·30am to find the place rapidly filling up. With Pauline providing a mug of coffee the banter commenced as we waited for the others to arrive. The car park soon filled up and just prior to the draw Gem handed over that PINK HAT!!!!!!!!!! ......

So on to the draw, I'm in A section which is the Little Lake today, and hoping that a half decent draw would allow me to have a better day today. So into the draw bag and I find that peg 36 is to be my home for the match......

If I'm honest it's the last peg in the section that I wanted to be on, however someone had a decent result the previous Sunday fishing the feeder from there so that was going to be plan A for me today.
The rod was a Mach 3 11ft feeder paired with a Daiwa 3012 Whisker spooled with 6lb Maxima. Just a simple running ledger rig with a Drennan cage feeder attached via a link swivel, finished off with a size 14 QM1 with a hair to take 3 pieces of sweetcorn. Groundbait was simply a bag of 4mm fishery pellets wetted down with a generous dusting of GOT Green Grub groundbait to bind them together. I also set up a Shakespeare Mach3 XT 11ft Pellet Waggler coupled with the new 035 MACH 3 XT Front Drag Reel spooled up with 4lb Maxima along with a 3AAA waggler to fish a banded pellet as I was planning to catapult pellets over where I was fishing the feeder and if it brought the fish up I may be able to nick a few. I also set up a couple of shallow pole rigs, but wasn't really planning on using them.

So at 1pm Malc called the All-In. Out with the feeder rod and within a couple of minutes a firm wrap on the tip signalled fish on. A spirited fight ensued but the first fish of the day was soon residing in the landing net, a weigher that went 10lbs and a most satisfactory way to kick of the day . Unfortunately a second fish was in no hurry to take the bait leaving me looking at a stationary tip for quite a while.

Dave and Clive over on pegs 7 & 8 appeared to be going along quite steadily though. Indeed Dave had managed a proper lump on his feeder rod, weighing in at 18½lbs, comfortably the largest fish that Dave had caught on a rod and reel ......

Steve to my right on peg 34 was fishing up to the buoys and had got off to a decent start and already looked like he would take all the catching......

In general though things appeared to be slow for most, With the temperature around 27°C the sky had clouded over leaving it feeling oppressively sticky and both the anglers and the fish lethargic.

Over on peg 4 I could see Simon, at first it appeared that he was having a good day with quite a few fish, but the reality was that he was being plagued with foul hookers, which having stretch his elastic to improbable lengths were shedding the hook before he could net them  .......

"Budgie" on peg 40 appeared to be suffering another grueller, and hoping for a better outcome than he'd suffered on the 1st Jinx Match when he'd finished last  ......

Paul on peg 2 had managed a couple, but it looked as if the fish in his peg were on steroids, as they were giving him a right old run around before he could finally get them in the net......

Around half way through the match Malc's dulcet tones were heard, which is always a worry as disaster for others seems to follow him as a constant companion. This time it was Steve's turn to suffer the force of The Jinx with his No 4 section breaking as Malc raised his camera......

Meanwhile Jon to my left on peg 38 was working through plans A-Z but all he could tempt were a few small roach and perch from down by his keepnets.......

Things had picked up for me however with a couple of quick fish falling to the feeder, but when I looked round while playing the second and found The Jinx himself pointing his camera in my direction I have to admit to a few anxious moments before it was safely in the net......

Time marched on and I managed another couple of fish, 1 to the feeder and 1 to the waggler, but reports from round the lake indicated that the fishing was proving to be very hard for most. Dave and Clive appeared to be still ticking along nicely, especially Clive who appeared to be making hay on the feeder......

...... however it transpired that he was losing the majority of them. Steve was still catching on peg 34, even getting a decent Perch on a white boilie!!!!!!

Dave over on peg 6 had managed a couple from his 6mtr line and was no doubt hoping for a strong finish to the match ......

I'd had another quiet spell when Dave strolled round for a chat. He must have brought me a bit of luck, because I managed another couple of carp as we chatted . He soon departed no doubt inspired to redouble his efforts and Kev's partner Jean appeared with a welcome cup of coffee for me .

I managed a final couple of fish as the match drew to an end, one of which was foul hooked in the dorsal fin and gave me a right run around before I managed to bundle it into the net. Malc finally called the All-Out at 6pm, which in typical Jinx fashion was the cue for a short sharp rain shower just to cool us down prior to packing away.

So with the kit packed up and back to the car it was time for the Weigh-In. Steve was first to weigh and his 92½lbs set a mark that wasn't going to be beaten . I thought I had about 50lbs so was pleasantly surprised to find 61½lbs as my final weight . Jon had over 40 fish to record 4lbs 10ozs, Mostly small stuff. Budgie had finally snared a carp to record 15½lbs. Paul's 41¼lbs was edged out by Simon's 45½lbs.
Dave put a level 35lbs on the scales. I was a bit surprised at Dave and Clive's weights as I'd expected them both to be pushing Steve, but Clive's 55¾lbs edged out Dave's weight of 52lbs 2ozs. Rolf's Lake regular Pete Archer had been guesting on peg 13 but had suffered with untold foul hookers  and recorded 48¾lbs. Another team had weighed in the other half of the lake, the highlight of which were 44½lbs from peg 19 for Al, Malc with 47¾lbs from peg 25, while peg 30 produced a fine 76lbs for Ade. Gem had only managed 1¾lbs, but had still handed Minxings to 3 of the lads so at least I would be waving goodbye to THE PINK HAT .

Back for the results and Pete Archer kindly provided some prizes from his sponsor Vespe. So with the results all done and dusted, all that remained was to find out who Gem would choose to be the lucky recipient that gets to wear that PINK HAT for the next match? Well readers, allow me to present Mr Paul Dolby  ................

OVERALL RESULT

Names in PINK are those that were MINXED

SECTION RESULTS

Jinx Match 1

Well here we go again . Today sees that happy band of idiots fools maniacs nutters that comprise The Jinx Squad back on the banks to do it all again for yet another year with all 6 of this years matches at Rolfs Lake .

Peter, Malc, Gem, Tony R, Terry, Steve, Ade.
Simon, Paul D, Paul R, Nick W-P, Nick W, Mitch.
Fred, Matt, Kevin, Jon, Geoff, Dave C, Dave M.
Dai, Clive, Marcus, Ant, Al, Steve, Dave W.

There's loads of questions to be answered over the course of the coming weeks........... 

Can I avoid PEG 13 ?
How many will suffer a Minxing and who'll end up wearing the THE PINK HAT ? 
Will Paul ever draw a sunny peg when he brings Jayne with him?
Will Simps and Gem get hitched?
Will Clive finish somewhere other than 2nd overall?
Will Jon actually land a fish if someone points a camera at him?

 The answers to these questions and many more will all be revealed in the reports that will appear here in the weeks ahead.

So on to the day, the luxury of fishing these matches is the start time, meaning that I don't have to get up at silly O'clock . I could have a lay in till 7·30am, feed the cats and make a coffee, a quick scan of the forums before loading the car and setting off via Battersea for my usual stop at The Jimmy Griddle where one of their 'Full English Breakfasts' made for a good start to the day . A smooth run down saw me pulling into the car park at Rolf's around 10·30am along with Clive and Tony. Geoff along with Paul D and his guest Mick were already in situ, and once Pauline had provided a mug of coffee the banter commenced as we waited for the others to arrive. The car park soon filled up, Gem arrived, you couldn't miss her in her new shirt, along with that PINK HAT!!!!!!!!!!......

...... which was soon passed on to Steve (Steak) for the day as he'd 'won' it at the MD's Lindholme match .

Well it was supposed to be an 11·30 draw, but of course it was late, a nesting Moorhen on peg 34 being blamed this time  ......

 Anyway with the draw underway I found myself with peg 21 (so no peg 13 for me today.) It's one of those pegs that doesn't get fished as often as some, so doesn't get as much bait going in, but can throw up a good weight on its day.

For company I had Marcus(Budgie)Burgess, Gem's Pairs partner on peg 19, while Paul Roberts was to my left on peg 23. There was a bit of scum on the water, but with the wind blowing into the peg I was hopeful of a few. Fish could be seen topping out towards the middle, ideal for the pellet waggler, but for this match I was on one of the pegs where rods aren't allowed.
So I set up a 4 pole rigs. One for straight out at around 8mtrs was a MW 0·6g Diamond for the 8mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 Drennan Carp Match and a MW Trev with similar line and hook for up in the water. and a further couple of MW 0·4g Power Diamonds on 0·20 Power Match with size 16 series 2 hooks to fish to the end of the bush on my right and down the side of the bush on my left. Bait for the day was to be a mix of soft and hard pellets in various sizes with some corn as a back up, while feed was 4 & 6mm fishery pellets.

One worrying aspect of the day however was the fact that John and Pauline were having a day out and were leaving Eddie TG in charge. Now Eddie knows the lake like the back of his hand and has a habit of giving Gem a bit of coaching when he's in attendance, which is a bit of a worry when you're looking to avoid a Minxing .

So at 1·30pm Malc called the All-In, a good handfull of pellet into all 3 swims and out to the 8mtr line with an 8mm banded pellet on the deck rig.. A couple of lift and drops and the float buried . A gentle lift met with a solid resistance, but the fish didn't bolt off just following the pole back, however just as I got back to the top 2 something spooked it and it dived at the keepnet, neatly transferring the hook in the process. Simon appeared to be suffering similarly as his first fish dived under his platform before snapping him off.

Not the best of starts, and in all honesty it went downhill from there . I had to wait nearly an hour for the next bite, which turned out to be one of the smaller Commons weighing around 5lb, but at least it was a fish in the net. The next bite came around 3pm. Malc was having a stroll, camera in hand, so of course I missed it only to foul hook a fish as I lifted the rig, well that led me a bit of a dance before the rig shot back with a scale on the end, much to Malc's amusement  ......

Most of us in that corner seemed to be struggling, though none of us more than Budgie, who halfway through the match had just a solitary Roach to show for his efforts  ......

Needing a break I re fed heavily, then grabbed the camera for a stroll. Clive was fishing long for once and as I looked over it appeared to be paying dividends as he was in the process of landing one .......

Simps was one of the few who appeared to be catching steadily, so Jon had reverted to the pellet waggler in an attempt to get in on the act......

Most however were feeling the full force of The Jinx Effect, but Dave Moore has a bit of a grin on his face  denoting that he was obviously getting a bit of action despite being on peg13 ......

Al was on peg 12, but was feeling a little rough, so much so that he and Dave would pack up early to get him home......

Malc was on peg 9 with Liam in tow, but apart from the one weigher was in the same boat as a lot of us just waiting for things to happen .......

Round on peg 8 was Nick(monkey) no doubt hoping that this would be the peg to finally provide him with that magic first 'Ton', alas it was not to be, in fact it was proving to be a real grueller for him  ......

...... and it didn't make him feel any better to see that Ant on peg 7 was catching regularly without appearing to even have to feed .......

Ade(Slim) was tucked away on peg 2, but as I made my way round he was into a fish having been fishing long down into empty peg 3 to his left......

Over on peg 38 I could see Paul D who was returning to the Jinx Series after a few years break carefully playing what transpired to be his first carp of the day  ......

Geoff was having a decent day on 36 and putting a few together, as was his old sparring partner Dai who was on peg 32 ......

Steak was having an absolute mare, was it down to that PINK HAT, or the fact that he had The Minx for company on the next peg?......

Jon by now was playing a carp on the waggler, and appeared to have broken the hoodoo of the camera as despite a number of shutters clicking he landed it safely  ........

Back to my peg, and I wish I could say it got better, but the truth is it didn't , the final 2 hours yielding just another 2 carp of around 6lbs and a solitary skimmer, and I have to say that it was a bit of a relief when Malc called the All-Out at 6·30pm.

Once I got my kit put away I caught up with the Weigh-In. Geoff had started things off with with 87lbs, but was soon overtaken by Slim's 100¾lbs, however Ant ended up winning A section with a fine 126½lbs from peg 7 . Dave Moore managed the best weight from the motorway bank with 65¼lbs , my 3carp and a skimmer rolling the scales round to just 20lbs. Clive took the win in C section with just 55lbs, while Simps was the man to beat in B section with a level 156lbs to take the win on the day . Gem put 33¼lbs on the scales meaning a dozen of us had been Minxed , while Dai managed 99¼lbs from peg 32 .

So to the results and after that all that remained was for Gem to chose the recipient of  THE PINK HAT for the next match .
Well it was no surprise to find it coming my way, much to everyones obvious delight , so it will be a PINK HAT day for me in 3 weeks time  ......

OVERALL RESULT

Names in PINK are those that were MINXED

SECTION RESULTS

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's the second Marsh match of the year today. There's a slight change of plan however as we were supposed to be fishing the Top Lake, but with only 22 pegs on there after some recent changes, and with 20 anglers booked in for todays match the decision was made to change to the Bottom Lake. I have to say that the last couple of matches that the club has had on there haven't really been resounding successes so hopefully it will fish a bit better for us today . 

I'd arranged to meet up with Dave at his house at 7am, and it's a good job I did. As I got out of the car I saw that I hadn't put my pellets in the car, Luckily Dave always has loads so I blagged some from him . Cars loaded and a quick trip through the Dartford Tunnel into darkest Essex saw us pulling into the fishery car park at Battlesbridge just before 8am .

It promised to be a glorious day weather wise with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky, but the first order of the day was breakfast  in the café cooked by Tony Runnalls (the Fishery Manager) while everyone caught up with the latest gossip. It was Dave's Birthday  today and his good lady Gladys had come with him on what has become her annual outing with the club. There's a bit of history here as on her first visit here in October 2007 she had beaten Dave off the next peg, while on our last visit in July 2008, I was the one being beaten, so the pressure was on to avoid being "Gladys'd" so avoiding frightful amounts of stick in the future .

Into the draw and I found peg 2 sticking to my hand, a nice short walk from the car park but not the best of draws as it's always struggled to produce in our matches on the lake. The peg itself looks glorious......

.......with the corner of an island that can be reached at around 20mtrs. For company today I had Keith on peg 1 ......

...... so the competition would be stiff, but at least the banter would be good   while peg 3 wasn't drawn.
I decided to be positive in my approach today targeting the larger fish that are present in the lake. I set up a couple of Shakespeare 11 ft pellet waggler rods and a feeder rod with a small method feeder to attack the point of the island, while I just set up 1 pole rig for a late look down the margin as a back up. Bait for the day was simply 6mm hard pellet and some corn, while the groundbait for the feeder was the new GOT 'Yellow Peril' with some added Atomic micros.
There's a huge head of smaller fish that can be caught fishing maggot, but the matches always seem to go to those who get amongst the better specimens, especially the Carp and Bream, so they were my targets for today.

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and we were underway, the method feeder being dispatched to the corner of the island with a banded pellet on the hook, while I pinged a few pellets over in preparation for the waggler later. Keith started on the lead to the island and was soon off the mark with a small Tench . I stuck at the method for 45 minutes before I was rewarded with my first fish, a small F1 that promptly dived at the keepnet and transfered the hook to it before I had the chance to net it. Carp 1-0 , Was it going to be one of those days?

Out with the waggler and i was finally rewarded with an Ide of around 1lb+ to get me off the mark . Dave was on an early stroll round and informed me that Gladys was catching well and already had 35 fish to crank the pressure up. Gladys always fishes maggot on a top 2 for whatever swims and while I knew most of her fish would be small there was always the chance of the odd bonus and she would probably put 10lbs+ on the scales at the end, so no pressure there then .

A Bream was my next fish and at around 2½lbs more than welcome, this was swiftly followed another, unfortunately this one was nearer 2½ozs. Keith however was reporting rather a lot of black Hydro being pulled from his topkit!!!!!!!!  The culprit proved to be a decent Common that was soon residing in the bottom of Keith's landing net.........

I was then briefly attached to something that decided to vanish at a rate of knots round the back of the island before shedding the hook and killing sport in the process. Carp 2-0 . I took a look down the margin that I'd been feeding regularly from the off with a grain of corn on the hook but without an indication to give me any encouragement after 15 minutes I decided to have a stroll with the camera. Tony on peg 25 was getting amongst some decent Ide down on peg 25, but the chap that seemed to be doing the best on that bank was Clive fishing meat long he'd picked up some decent Bream and a couple of Carp, but had lost a Bream that he reckoned was bigger than his landing net!!!!! ........

Gladys had slowed down a bit (Thank heavens for small mercies ) while Dave fishing his customary 4 sections had the contented look of a man who felt he had the measure of his wife ........

Over on the far side the wind was putting a nice ripple onto the water and Jim could be found steadily putting a net of small fish together, but was a little frustrated that he couldn't find any bonus fish  ......

....... Colin was having a bit of a struggle and had reverted to fishing the maggot, but Al was fishing hemp & tares up in the water and was finding a few Ide and bream. Tony (Wily Coyote) was tucked away in peg 5 but was having better luck catching the sun than getting the fish to co-operate  .......

Back at my peg and the waggler still failed to produce so I decided to fish the method for the remainder of the match in the hope that I could find a decent Carp to get me out of Jail. Tony meanwhile had hooked a decent Carp, a right lump in fact and was gingerly playing it on his new pole, and getting plenty of encouragement to give it a bit of teddy ........

....... needless to say the hook pulled, but at least he got plenty of Sympathy ........NOT!!!!!!!!

....... Well retribution for taking the micky out of Tony was swift as everything went slack, a pigtailed line showing that a knot had failed at the swivel ........

....... Mugger had been well and truly mugged. Carp 3-0 .

So a couple of hours to go and it looked like I needed snookers. I tied a new rig up, paying special attention to the knots this time and set up a hair rig to take 3 grains of sweetcorn, sh*t or bust time. Time ticked on, Keith managed another a smaller Carp from his margin, but not so much as a rattle on my tip .
3·55pm and just 5 minutes to go, time for one last cast before the inevitable stick that I just knew would be coming my way. 3 fresh grains of corn on the rig and back out accompanied with a little prayer................ Well the tip had barely settled when it steadily pulled round and just kept going . I just had to lift the rod and as soon as I felt it I knew this was the fish that I needed. A nervous couple of minutes followed, not helped by various shouts of encouragement (or was it disbelief ) from around the lake, before I slid it safely over the net accompanied by a shout of relief that could be heard around the lake, a definite double, I slipped it safely into the keepnet just as Dave called the All-Out .

As I packed my kit away I have to say that I felt pretty relieved, though I'm sure I could hear "Two Minutes  Two bloody Minutes " coming from Dave's direction. Keith and I were on the scales today and as we set off round the lake Tony on peg 25 took an early lead with a level 20lbs. Clive on peg 20 soon overtook that however with 45lbs . Gladys set the target of 12½lbs to avoid humiliation, which Dave sailed past with 22½lbs . Jim put 17lbs on the scales, but the main man on the day was Keith's guest Mick who comfortably took the win with 63¼lbs of mainly Bream . Al's 23lbs was to prove good enough for 3rd overall. My moment of truth arrived and that late Carp weighed just over 11lbs and boosted my total weight to 16¼lbs, so no 'Gladysing' for me . Keith rounded things off with a hard earnt 17¾lbs .

Back to the car park for the results, and most seemed to think that it hadn't fished that badly, and after a chorus of  for Dave we said our farewells  .  

My next trip should be down to Monk Lakes for the Faye Match in support of http://www.postpals.co.uk which should hopefully raise a good few quid for a very good cause. A full report of the day will appear here in due course .

  Marsh AC club match.

Well after what seems like forever I'm finally getting back out on the bank . A combination of atrocious weather and pressure of work has seen me having my own private close season since Christmas ,  but today sees the 1st Marsh AC club match of the year down at Monk Lakes on Match Lake 4, so it's time to blow the cobwebs away and see if I can remember how to catch a few fish .

So with the alarm going off at 5·30am I soon had the cats fed and my coffee made and drunk before loading up the car and setting off for Monks . I pulled up in the car park around 7·45am with the sun shining to find a few of the lads already in attendance and tucking into breakfast in various forms. A bacon & egg baguette washed down with a tea took care of things for me as the rest arrived. Dave took care of collecting in the subs and peg fees while Tony and I strolled up to lake 4 to check out the pegging . The lake was almost flat calm with barely a hint of breeze, though as this is Monk Lakes the odds were that the wind would get up as soon as we settled into our pegs . Only peg 157 needed to be left out as it's tight in a corner.
Keith, Clive and Al who have been regular guests for quite a while had accepted invites to join the club this year , while Bill G was guesting as was Pete Thompson who had travelled down from Milton Keynes with Keith, and Kevin & Jean were also back with us having had to cancel their plans to move to The Bahamas.

So into the draw bag and with none of us having any real experience of this lake, nobody seemed to worried about what peg they would draw. Peg 136 ended up in my hand, at least I would be able to park pretty close to it. Getting the kit out of the car I could feel the wind starting to get up and by the time I'd set up it was blowing quite briskly onto my back . For company I had Bill G on 137 who had the end of the island in front and had set up a waggler to fish it and he would alternate between this and the pole all match to keep some fish coming. At least we would have a bit of banter regardless of the outcome . My peg looked OK with a comfortable 14½ mtrs to the island. With the depth being a pretty constant 3½ft all over I just set up a couple of rigs, both 4X12 Malman Champers on 0·16 power match to 0·14 with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Bait for today would be a selection of GOT 6mm soft hookers and some sweetcorn with GOT micros for feed.

10·00am saw Dave call the All-in, and Bill was in straight away with a Carp of around 3lbs on the pole at 13 mtrs . My start wasn't so good with lots of rubbish on the bottom of my chosen line against the island I had to come back about a meter from the island to find a clear patch. Bill probably had 7 or 8 fish before I managed my 1st, a small Carp of around a pound and while Bill appeared to be ticking along nicely I was just getting the odd Gudgeon and small Tench......

Around 11am Vince arrived to see how we were getting on and brought me a welcome cuppa . By this time the wind had got up to a decent blow making things more awkward and I sent Vince off with my camera to take a few photos and see what others were doing . Bill was still catching though he was suffering from a few bumped fish and a snag on his waggler line seemed to be costing him a few hook lengths, but he was still on course to take our £1 side bet.

On Vince's return his report was that although everyone seemed to be catching, nobody was taking it apart, though most seemed to be fishing maggot, so I asked Vince to pop down to the site shop and get me ½pint of reds and he duly obliged. 1st put in with double red on the hook I landed a small but scale perfect Golden Rudd which Vince photographed before saying farewell and heading for home.

Young Zack had a bit of a shock when his double maggot was taken by a 5lb+ Pike (I had no idea there were any present) which he weighed and returned. All the time it was getting colder and with the sky getting darker it was obvious that we were due some rain at some point.
At least the red maggots were starting to pick up a few more fish for me, not enough to do any damage, but in all honesty I was just enjoying being out on the bank again after a 3 month layoff. Jean as always appeared with a welcome cup of tea and even went and got a burger for Bill and I . After the burger I fed a load of micro's with some corn and a few reds at 7mtrs and went for a stroll of my own with the camera to allow it to settle.

Keith was fishing a top 3 and right on cue caught a decent skimmer for the camera .........

While Colin was doing his best 'Bankside Bush' impression in his camo gear, and as usual was keeping how he was doing pretty close to his chest, although admitting to having a few ........

Tony was looking remarkably cheerful , despite having the no9 section of his 401 fall apart in his hands earlier in the day (Tony has had no luck with this pole since he brought it secondhand, with countless sections breaking ) .........

Further round Pete Thompson was struggling to hit his bites, and felt that he was falling behind Clive on the next peg.........

Clive was looking like someone out of an advert, sitting on his shiny new Space Station and using a shiny new pole , which seemed to be doing the business for him .......

Indeed he landed a decent Carp while I was chatting to him leading me to believe that he was doing better than he was letting on......

By the time I got round to Dave the wind was blowing full on into his peg and causing his joints to suffer, though he'd managed a few, admitting to around 10 different species in his nets ......

Kevin was just glad to be out fishing, having had the misfortune to suffer a couple of strokes in recent months, but with Jean keeping a careful eye on him to make sure he didn't overdo things, he'd had a succession of small Carp to his feeder tactics and was obviously enjoying himself ......

Back at my peg the feed appeared to have done the job as there were a few bites to be had, very few Carp though, but a mixture of small skimmers, Ide, Gudgeon, Tench and Roach kept me interested as squalls of rain made things uncomfortable for everyone.

With about an hour to go Bill lost yet another hook to the snag on his waggler line and decided he'd have a stroll, while I kept plugging away picking up the odd fish including a solitary small Carp of around 2lbs that I managed to nick from my left hand margin before Dave called the All-out at 4pm.

Thankfully it didn't take to long to pack up and get the gear back to the car as it was only parked about 10 yards away.

The weigh-in started at my peg where my net weighed a level 21 lbs which was more than I thought I had. Bill's 26lbs safely secured the £1 side bet between the two of us. Colin's mixed bag weighed in at a level 33lbs.  Next up was Keith who put a fine 50¾lbs onthe scales that would eventually net him 2nd place . Hot on Keith's heels was Tony who despite the disaster with his pole weighed 45¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for 3rd place  . The winner however proved to be Clive round on peg 152 who used his new kit to good effect putting a level 54lbs on the scales to take the win on the day .

So that's it, the 1st trip of the year done and dusted and hopefully a few cobwebs blown away. Where next? who knows, but the report will appear here from wherever it is .

Marsh AC club match.

Well it was down to Colemans Cottage today for an impromptu final match on Cottage Lake with Marsh AC to give Kevin a fitting send off before he and Jean leave for The Bahamas . Now Cottage Lake is the original more established lake at Colemans and doesn't get used for many matches, so it's a bit of a trip into the unknown for most of us.
With very little info available anywhere about this lake and the nights getting colder it was anyones guess how it would fish, but I always enjoy fishing a water that's new to me, so I soon had the motor loaded this morning and was away in good time and pulled into the fishery at around 7·50am to be greeted by Tony who'd already been for a scout round the lake . First things first, up to the lodge where Terry, Eddie, Kevin and Jean were already in attendance and a 'Full English' was soon ordered and dispatched , and as the rest of the crew arrived a few of us set off to peg the lake.
First impressions were that it looked a little gem , only 19 pegs but well established in comparison to the newer lakes at the fishery and having decided which pegs to leave out we made our way back to the lodge, where Dave got the draw under way for the 13 of us present. Today for a bit of fun Dave had drawn 3 teams, 2 teams of 4 and one of five, with the team of 5 being able to drop their worst result, and I was in the team of 5 along with Colin, Graham, Zack and Rod . Into the hat and Peg 2 was mine, so gear collected from the car and down to the lake. For company today I had Rod on Peg 1 to my left and Kevin on Peg 4 to my right. The platform on my peg had seen better days, but nothing that couldn't be sorted thanks to my box's telescopic legs.

From the little info I'd managed to glean it seemed that there was a fair head of Carp, including some proper lumps and plenty of silvers. Looking at my peg, I had a tree overhanging the left hand margin and a bush to the right. The wind made it feel pretty chilly though luckily it was off my back. I decided on a pole approach, setting up 3 rigs. The 1st being a 4X12 Malman Adam on 0·20 power match straight through to a size 14 QM1 for a line at around 8mtrs where I had around 3½ ft of depth, and 2 Malman MTD1's similarly rigged for down the margins 2ft deep in the left and 1 ft in the right hand. Bait for the day was going to be 6mm GOT expander pellets and corn with 6 mm pellets for feed.

10am and as Dave called the All-In I shipped out a pot of pellet with a few grains of corn to my 8mtr line and fed some pellet down both margins. Tony was in to a fish almost straight away while I shipped out my rig baited with a grain of corn. No instant response for me however despite lifting and dropping the rig to try and provoke some action, just little dinks that I couldn't connect with. Looking around a few people appeared to be taking the odd silver, but nobody appeared to be off to a flyer. 30 minutes in having changed to expander on the hook a good positive bite resulted in several feet of elastic, and after a spirited scrap a pristine Common of around 3lbs was safely netted to get me off the mark . A second followed soon after, a Mirror this time of a similar size.
I could see Colin over on Peg 8 fishing tight to the bush overhanging his left hand margin and he seemed to be matching me fishing his favourite paste......

Twenty biteless minutes followed before the next bite, this time however it felt like a much more solid fish as it plodded off, steady pressure took it's toll however and after about 5 minutes I slid the net under a Common that must have been close to 10lbs . Another couple of fish soon followed, sadly not of quite the same stamp, both of them being closer to 2lbs than 10, but very welcome none the less. So 5 fish in the net for around 20lbs and things were looking good, the next bite however resulted in me being attached to something that felt more like a submarine than a fish , It just steadily headed off across the lake and all I could do was hang on with the pole tip under the water till the hook pulled. Unfortunately it trashed the rig . With a new rig sorted it was back out, but it took a good 20 minutes till another bite produced a small but perfectly formed Mirror of around 8ozs. A look down both margins produced nothing at all, so I decided to re feed and have a stroll with the camera while things settled.

Rod appeared to be having a bit of a struggle with just a solitary skimmer to show for his efforts , while Graham was taking a steady stream of small silvers from his peg . Eddie seemed to have a decent feature to fish to, but the fish didn't seem to agree and he was working hard for little reward ......

Terry was another who was having trouble getting to grips with things and it was becoming pretty obvious that the overnight drops in temperature during the previous week had taken its toll on things . Young Zack had managed to winkle out a couple of Carp on the feeder however and was looking reasonably happy with his lot ......

Martin had nicked a Carp as well and had also encountered a submarine that had seen him off. Round to Dave who was plugging away fishing maggot which had produced some silvers and a couple of Carp for him......

Tony was in pretty much the same position as Dave and fishing for anything with fins, while Colin's paste attack had produced 5 Carp for him, though he'd lost 3 fish which he felt were foul hooked, and while Jean watched on from behind, Kevin had managed a couple of Carp on corn......

Back to my peg and I decided to try a banded 6mm on the hook and almost immediately it produced a plump Common of around 1½lbs swiftly followed by a 12oz skimmer. I struck into the next bite and all hell seemed to be let loose as a big Carp charged off then boiled on the surface, a large Mirror that was hooked in the tail!!!!! Steady pressure saw me making progress, but the fun was still to come. Colemans supply all the nets at the fishery, but the landing nets are only 18" spoons. Somehow and more by luck than judgement I managed to get the fish up and it's head in the net 1st time, then the hook fell out . The fish was a stunning Mirror of around 10lbs, the orange of it's tail contrasting wonderfully with its dark brown flanks. Dave arrived and was surprised that I'd got it in so quickly as he felt sure that I would still be playing it. A quick chat during which I missed a couple of bites then Dave was on his way.

The afternoon settled into a pattern where I would get a couple of fish then have to wait 15-20 minutes before I would get another couple, and I felt this could be down to the fish patrolling around rather than settling and the water starting to loose a bit of it's colour as it got cooler making the fish a little spooky. Still I was putting fish in the net though I always felt that Colin had the edge as he was keeping up with me and his fish seemed to be of a better average size .

Rod at last seemed to have had a a change of fortune hooking a decent Carp only to suffer one of those horrible moments as he played it all the way to the net only to have his 8lb line break for no apparent reason . Dave however had better luck when he latched into a decent fish, and although it gave him a bit of a runaround he soon had it safely in the net ......

My last fish proved to be a Tench of around 1¾lbs and when Dave called the All-Out at 4pm I'd taken 17 Carp to go with that Tench and the skimmer which I felt would be somewhere close to 60lbs .

So Kit packed away and on to the Weigh-In with Kevin once more taking up his familiar role of scalesman. Rod kicked things off with 1lb for his solitary skimmer, while my fish came to 62½lbs . Kevin recorded 15¼lbs while it was Colin who took the honours on the day with a fine 67¾lbs . Tony found that his 25¼lbs was only good enough for 4th on the day as Dave produced 27¾ for 3rd. Martin recorded a level 14lbs and Zack 12½lbs. Ken produced 8¼lbs while Terry had struggled for 8½lbs. Bob could only muster 3¾lbs and Eddie had only 3½lbs to show for his efforts. Graham being the last to weigh produced a hard earnt 10¼lbs as his reward for plugging away at the silvers.

So back to the Lodge for a welcome cuppa and a slice of bread pudding paid for by Dave .
It turned out that our team had won on the day, meaning that Zack received his first ever pick-up from a match .
While the weights had been a little disappointing in general I felt that the conditions hadn't shown the lake in it's best light, Match wise although it holds 19 pegs it probably can't hold more than 16 in comfort which restricts it a little, but I for one would be more than happy to fish it again.
So that's it, definitely the final Marsh AC match of the year, well unless we sneak out somewhere for an impromptu Christmas match .

Where am I off to next? Who knows? but the report will be here when I find out .

Now the club doesn't operate a championship as such but for a bit of fun I worked out a table of the seasons results using a 20 point system, allowing for an anglers worst result to be dropped and 1 point awarded for a DNW. Guests results were not included in the table and the matches at the Private Lake and Cottage Lake at Colemans weren't included as neither of them were official club matches. As you can see it was very close in the end with Colin and Tony tied at the top. However Colin had 3 match wins to Tony's 2 and also caught a greater weight of fish. My blow out on the 1st match at Monks and missing the 1st match at Colemans knocked me back. Perhaps I should have worked it out on aggregate weight .

(d.n.f. = Did not Fish.   20 pts = Match Winner.)

Well today is a rare midweek day out with a few of the lads from Marsh AC and Maggotdrowners . Not a club match as such, just a days fishing as Kevin has returned to these shores for six weeks before he and Jean finally make their move to The Bahamas. So that Kevin can get a final bit of fishing in ahead of their departure we'd arranged this trip down to Hartleylands today along with a final official club match at Colemans Cottage on Saturday .

I've still got a few days of Holiday to fit in before the end of the year, so booked the day off to venture out for an all to rare weekday session . Loading up the car just before 6am it was noticeably chilly and the car thermometer only read 4°C . I'd arranged to meet a few of the lads at The Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast beforehand and when I got there Kevin, Jean and Al were already tucking in and we were soon joined by Tony and Jim. Soon we made our way down to the fishery to find the car park packed as there was a Police match on Nick's and Bramley.

Dave soon had the draw organised and with just 13 of us fishing we just used the odd pegs on Peartree and I found Peg 19 in my hand. I soon had my gear round to the peg, though a soft trolley tyre made it harder work than usual .

Stopping for a chat with Terry he was struggling big time without a single fish to show for his efforts , despite there being fish moving in the reeds in his left hand margin.

Settling back into my peg I banded a 6mm pellet and shipped out and settled for feeding just 10-15 pellets every put in. 10 minutes of lifting and dropping finally produced a bite, and a chunky little Mirror of around 1½lbs was a welcome result . Jean and Al's wife arrived with the pies, and that Meat & Potato pie looked like it was going to be the best bite I was going to get on the day . I wish I could say it got better as the day progressed, but it didn't, apart from Jean turning up with a freshly brewed mug of tea courtesy of Dave . Far to long between bites was the story, but I plugged away and ended with 19 fish which I thought might scrape 20lbs, by the time Dave called the All-Out.

The Weigh-In didn't take long. Kev kicked off with just a couple of fish for 2½lbs. Dave had fared better with 28¼lbs to show for his efforts, while John managed 14¼lbs. Bill took the bragging rights on the day with a hard earned 49lbs while DaveT managed 30½lbs for second (Including his 8½lb PB Common ) Tony managed 22¼lbs to edge out my 19¾lbs. Terry managed to find a few in the end to weigh 16¼lbs while Al managed 30¼lbs for third on the day.

So no great shakes fishing wise, but good company and far better than a day at work . It's off to Essex and Colemans Cottage on Saturday and hopefully a few more fish.

Marsh AC club match.

Down to a Private Lake in East Sussex today for a Marsh AC club match. This isn't really an official club match, but Dave managed to get a booking and felt that some of the members might enjoy the chance to have a days fishing there . We're expecting 16 of us to be fishing, including 5 guests. The Lake is a prolific fishery with a large head of Carp that's well capable of throwing up some very good weights . However the weather leading up to the match has been very changeable so just how it'll fish today is anyones guess .

Looking out through the bedroom window it looked like we were in for a decent day weather wise and I soon had the car loaded. A quick stop for a bit of breakfast on the way and I was pulling into the fishery car park just after 8am. A good number had arrived before me including the guests. Keith & Mick had come down from Milton Keynes, Bill and Clive had joined us as well for the day and Al arrived in the nick of time as usual .

Dave, in his usual efficient manner, soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. Keith drew Peg 1 and Bill couldn't disguise his delight at drawing Peg 4 in the other corner . I found myself holding Peg 12, up on the right hand bank with Terry on Peg 11 and Tony on Peg 13 for company today .

Reaching the peg I realised that I'd fished it once before, and caught bugger all off it , but that had been in the depths of winter, so hopefully today would prove to be better .

So down to business and get set up for the day. I set up a couple of Malman 4X12 Adam's on 0·18 Power Match with size 16 Drennan Carp hooks to fish pellet and corn as well as a small Malman SC Paste float on 0·20 Power Match with a size 12 Ashima Barbless hook. I also set up a Malman Slapper on 0·18 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook for up in the water and to double up down the margins. Todays bait was various pellets, paste and corn with 6mm pellets for feed .

With a few minutes before the All-In I strolled down to see Tony who appeared to be covering all the options with half a dozen top kits set up ......

Keith and Mick appeared deep in thought , Keith no doubt wondering if he was going to get the better of Mick today, as Mick has developed the happy knack (for him ) of beating Keith when they fish together ......

So at 10am Dave blew the whistle for the All-In I shipped out a pot of mixed pellets and corn to the 8mtr line and some fed by hand into the margins, but before I could ship my rig out I could see both Bill and Colin into fish straight away !!!! Anyway out with the rig with an 8mm banded pellet A bit of lifting and dropping of the rig soon saw the float slide away and I soon had my first fish of the day, a nice plump Common of around 4lbs safely in the net .

Looking across Jim had an early fish on the feeder to get him off the mark and so had young Zack .......

Word had filtered round that Chris had got himself a decent Tench , and that Clive had found a couple of fish as well to get him off the mark . I'd taken another couple of Carp before I lost a fourth when the rig line parted for no apparent reason , it hadn't parted at a knot or where any of the stotz had been applied. Anyway back out with another rig and I was soon into a fish once more , this one being a better sized Mirror that must have been around 7lbs. So with about an hour gone I reckoned I had about 20lbs and felt things looked good for the rest of the match .

Tony had taken 3 fish by now ("1 about a foot deep, 1 at around 3 ft and another on the drop" ) while Terry to my right had 5 in the net ......

In the next half hour I managed just one more fish, a Common around 5lbs, but it was noticeable that sport had slowed all round the lake apart from Peg 15 that is, as Al seemed to be the only one catching regularly. I decided to re feed quite heavily to see if I could draw some fish, and took a stroll with the camera .

Indeed Martin on peg 10 hadn't even had a bite and was at a loss to explain why , while Terry seemed to have a re-occurrence of a problem he'd suffered with here before, in that he was losing 50% of the fish he hooked for no apparent reason
Chris was concentrating on the end of the bush in the right hand margin of his swim but was only admitting to 4 fish in his nets ......

Clive had resorted to casting a straight lead to the island, and as I arrived he was playing a Common that was giving a good account of itself, but was soon safely in the net ......

Colin was fishing his favourite paste down the right hand margin, but despite a decent start was now biteless ......

Bill tucked away in the corner had started off like a house on fire, his first to put in's having resulted in a couple of doubles, which had swiftly been followed by a couple of smaller fish, but he was struggling to and had resorted to fishing hard up to the reeds to try and tempt a bite from fish that could be seen moving in them ......

Indeed the tactic seemed to have worked for him, because as I reached Jim's peg I looked back just in time to see him playing a fish ......

Keith on Peg 1 was another having a bit of a frustrating time having been told he'd drawn one of the favoured swims. He'd managed a double early on followed by another couple of smaller fish, but was now struggling for a bite ......

Al however was now putting a steady run of fish together, though he reckoned they were mainly small ones , but at least he was catching regularly ......

I wish I could say that things improved from that point on, but I would be lying if I did . It was as if someone or something had switched the lake off with only the very occasional fish coming out in the next 4 hours. I had one more bite at around 3 pm which produced another Carp, but that was it for me . In fact there was a communal sigh of relief at 4pm when Dave sounded the All-Out to put us out of our collective misery.

As we packed away, the inquest on the days events started, with everyone scratching their heads and at a loss to explain just why the lake had appeared to have switched off, not that anyone could come up with a convincing answer though.

So to the Weigh-In, Keith kicked things off with a hard earned 30¾lbs, and just a single fish for both Zack and Jim. Bill registered 40¾lbs and was immediately overtaken by Colin with 42½lbs . Dave had just 2 fish while Simon managed 20½lbs. Clive managed 45¼lbs for the lead at that point, meaning that Bill had to part with a Golden Nugget and Chris recorded a level 31lbs. Round to the opposite bank where Martin had dry netted . Terry's seven fish came to 36¼lbs leaving him regretting those lost fish . My six fish totalled 29½lbs while Tony's six came to 26½lbs. Mick's fish weighed in at 20¼lbs meaning that Keith had done him for once today . Al was home and dry with his first keepnet and eventually recorded an even 122lbs for a very comfortable win on the day , and was also the last to weigh as unfortunately Graham had dry netted as well .

So back to the car park. Congratulations to Al and a lot of head scratching all round, as none of us had experienced a day like that on the lake before and were at a loss to explain it. Still it had been another good day in great company and pleasant surroundings, even if the fishing hadn't been up to expectations. We'll have to do it all again soon, just a few more fish would be nice though .

Marsh AC club match.

Today It's down to Colemans Cottage with Marsh AC for a club match on Pathfield Lake . It's the second time this year that the club have visited the fishery for a club match, and there should be 16 of us fishing, including guests today. I missed the seasons first club match here in May due to work, though as it transpired it fished quite hard then , so I didn't really miss much . Hopefully we'll have a better day today, though it wasn't the best of starts, as some idiot had crashed his Merc at the top of my road this morning, meaning that I left a bit late for the trip down. It was pretty overcast as I drove into the car park just after 8·15am and a fair old breeze blowing, which can effect the lake as it's quite shallow for the most part . However we had the whole lake booked and that should allow everyone a bit of space to draw a few fish .
Anyway first things first and into the fishery lodge for breakfast. Most were already tucking in. Keith Ashby was a guest again and today he'd brought fellow GOT Baits angler, Pete Thompson with him. It was great to see Pete, as he's a class angler with a particularly dry sense of humour . All to soon Dave was after our money and the draw was underway just as my breakfast arrived. Anyway into the hat and it's peg 6 for me today (much to Dave's disgust as it's a favourite peg of his )

Breakfast finished and it's back to the car park to collect my gear and the fishery supplied nets then off to my peg. It seems Clive is on peg 2 and Pete Thompson is on peg 4, while Martin and Graham were right in the bay to my left on pegs 7 and 8 with Colin opposite on peg 9.

Looking at the peg, the obvious feature is the point of the island opposite, but with the wind gusting from right to left it would be awkward to say the least so rig wise it was decision time ......

I settled on a 4X12 Malman Adam on 0·16 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook and a duplicate rig but with a 4X16 Adam should the wind require it. I also set up a rig with one of the new Malman Slappers, again on 0·16 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook for up in the water, that could also double up for the margins, though with so much vegetation on both sides, both my margin swims were very limited. Indeed I decided that my main line of attack would be at 8mtrs down the track where I had around 2½ft of water. Everyone I'd spoken to about Pathfields had told me that it was pellet & corn, so that was the plan of attack today.

So with everything set Clive arrived complete with camera for a chat and Pete put in an appearance as well. Soon it was 10am and a blast on the whistle from Dave signalled the All-In . With a large pot of pellet and corn down the track and some pellet into both margins I picked up the 4X12 rig, hooked on a kernel of corn and shipped out to 8mtrs. There were already signs of fish with a few bubbles appearing over the fed area. 10 minutes later and the anticipation had faded a little, there were a few Carp cruising around but they appeared quite uninterested and I'd only had a couple of sharp taps on the float that I couldn't connect with . Banded pellet, expanders and corn were all alternated, but at the end of the first hour all I had to show for my efforts were 3 small Barbel and a couple of Roach that might have scraped 1lb in total. I'd heard Pete take a couple of fish (and curse the fishery landing nets ) but from what little I could see nobody was bagging up. The wind wasn't helping but at least it had blown the clouds away and bright sunshine was warming things up nicely, but after another 15 minutes biteless I dumped another 2 large pots of pellet and corn on the 8mtr line to try and kick start things and took a stroll with the camera . Pete was fishing corn down his left hand margin and was admitting to around 15lbs in the net......

Clive was taking a similar approach and it had already produced a few Carp for him, and he was hoping that things would improve as the match wore on ........

and I could see Terry on the next peg, and while he was fishing down the margins as well he looked as if he was having a bit of trouble with his presentation due to the wind......

Anyway, with others catching I decided to get back and see if I could improve on my performance so far. As I made my way back someone called out my name and it turned out it was Scott(scottymatch) who follows this Blog on Xanga and his partner who had come down to introduce themselves, and it was a nice surprise to meet them both . After a brief chat they left and I settled back in to get on with things. Second put in with corn and the float slid slowly away and a couple of feet of elastic indicated something with a bit of weight at last. A small Mirror of around 2lbs, and very welcome . It proved to be a bit of a false dawn however as just a solitary tiny Barbel followed with nearly 2 hours of the match gone.

I'd noticed that Colin was starting to pick up a few fish, while Martin and Graham were fairing no better than me, despite being on what looked like a couple of pegs to die for, especially with the wind blowing into them. Martin had managed to nick a couple of fish on the feeder, but Graham appeared to be having a real grueller and was struggling to even get a bite.......

Dave strolled round and stopped to see how I was doing and reckoned that although most were catching a few, nobody was really going well where he was, though Tony had been catching steadily. I then noticed what I was sure was a tail pattern just past the end of my keepnets. Decision Time!!! I had some GOT Atomic paste in my carryall, and decided to make it up. With that done I selected a small Malman SC Paste float and rigged it up on 0·18 Power Match with a size 12 Ashima Barbless. Plumbing up I found 2 ft at 3mtrs, so with the rig set I flicked a few pellets out and potted the 1st bit of paste in. The rig settled and 30 seconds later a couple of dips were followed by the float sliding steadily away and a nice Common of around 3lbs was soon in the net . That was the start of the improvement for me, nothing spectacular, but at last I started to put fish in the net on a regular basis .

Unfortunately I started having a bit of trouble with foul hooked fish . Now I wasn't feeding heavily, just the odd pinch of pellets that were pretty well spread as I didn't want to concentrate to many fish in to small an area, but it was stopping me from finding any sort of rhythm, and with just around 1½ hours remaining I was looking for a decent finish to the match. Checking on my clicker I realised that I'd missed a few fish off and didn't really know just what I had in the net. Now Colemans operates a weight limit (70lbs per net) and I was hopeful that I'd exceed that by the end of the match so I decided to go and get a 2nd carp net and put it in to be on the safe side. I was pretty careful putting it in, conscious that I didn't want to disturb the paste line to much. Not to worry though , first put in after sorting the nets and a decent Mirror of around 5lbs obliged, so no harm done .

So with an hour to go I was set, but how to avoid the foul hookers? I added 3 inches of depth to the rig and fixed a no1 shot 3 inches from the hook in an attempt to get round the problem . Colin by now was catching well and I knew it would be close between us at the end......

The adjustment to the rig had the desired effect and I was soon putting a much better run of fish regularly in the net, In fact I only suffered 1 more foul hooker in the last hour, and the swim was getting stronger and stronger when Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm. I felt reasonably happy with my match at the end, it was just a shame that I hadn't sorted things out earlier. I felt that I'd probably got around 80lbs to show for my efforts, but couldn't help feeling that the peg would have been good for a 'Ton+' if I'd sorted it earlier .

So with the kit packed away and back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In. Now I have to say that Colemans probably has the most efficient system for weighing in that I've seen at a fishery in some time .

Basically as the picture above shows, they have quad bikes with trailers that drive round. On the back of the trailer is a bar that supports the scales, along with a weighing container and carp mat. It drives round to the pegs, fish are transfered to the container weighed and returned and the fishery nets collected in the trailer. Fast, efficient and with minimal strain for the fish. The chat suggested that Tony had had a decent day round on the other side of the lake, and Keith was keeping things pretty close to his chest, hinting that he probably had 50lbs+. Clive kicked things off from peg 2 and put 53½lbs on the scales . Pete had obviously had a decent day on peg 4 and took the lead with a fine 95lbs. I was quite pleased and surprised to edge him out though when the scales recorded 96½lbs for my fish. That lead was short lived however as Colin put 97lbs on the scales to edge me out of it. Onward we went with the next weight of note being Tony's who finally put 86lbs on the scales.

We then arrived at Keith's peg!!! What can be said? somehow his 50lbs+ morphed into 142½lbs !!!!! An excellent weight given that his peg wasn't one of the most fancied (Be careful if you're standing besides Keith though, because if he turns round quickly he could have your eye out with his nose )

So with the Weigh-In completed it was back to the patio outside the fishery lodge where winnings were dispensed by Dave, and tea, coffee and bread pudding along with a load of banter brought yet another Marsh club match to a close . Another excellent day out at a decent fishery in good company, it doesn't get much better really .

Next Saturday I'm down at Monk Lakes for the Southern Intersite match where I'm fishing for the Maggotdrowning.com team. Vince is our Captain and I'll be looking to mug him and get one of my Golden Nuggets back. Will I manage it? you can find out here .